WARRIORS OF VIRTUE
Rating: 
Original Review: Isn't it ironic how the most unlikely films end up having fantastic scores? Don Davis, one of Hollywood's foremost orchestrators (who has worked extensively with James Horner on scores such as Casper, Legends of the Fall, The Pagemaster, Ransom and Titanic) has created an incredible musical tour-de-force for Warriors of Virtue, a kiddie action fantasy movie which was a bizarre cross of The Neverending Story and Tank Girl, and featured a young boy teaming up with some mutant kangaroo warriors to take on an evil wizard in a far off world. Despite the derivative nature of the film, Davis approached his task with the utmost seriousness and has crafted a piece of music which is, by turns, action-packed, beautiful and emotional, and is always entertaining. Davis' long term collaboration with James Horner really shines through in his music: the score is very reminiscent of some of Horner's more lavish and beautiful efforts and, if one were to describe it in such terms, you could say it was almost a kind of Krull meets Legends of the Fall meets Willow. After an admittedly shaky start, the album bursts into life during track 4, 'The Vortex and the Dare', and after that Davis and the Denver Symphony Orchestra simply never let up, delivering knockout cue after knockout cue after knockout cue. The highlights of Warriors of Virtue are far too numerous to mention without sounding repetitious and running out of superlatives, but the best of an extremely good bunch are 'The Lifespring Rhapsody', 'Forces of Nature', 'The Theme of Tao', which completely blew me away with its powerful rendition of the heroic main theme, 'The Mudlap Trap', which is a slightly more humourous piece, 'Planet of the Roo Warriors', which simply overflows with wonderful passages, crescendos and themes, and the finale - 'Ryan's Strength' - which is much more tender and emotional, with a beautifully performed piano solo taking centre stage. One thing I ought to mention is the fact that Don Davis seems to have a really peculiar sense of humour when it comes to naming cues: the titles from his lesbian noir-thriller Bound were so sexually suggestive as to be almost obscene, while here he takes the mickey out of some of the most famous music themes in Hollywood with names like 'Chained Melody', 'Encounter of the Roo Kind' and the groan-inducing 'Komodo Dragontrot'. I must also say hats off to Prometheus Records, the Belgian soundtrack label, and its producer Luc van de Ven for allowing the lucky few film music fans who manage to get hold of this under-rated and undiscovered gem of a score to enjoy such a wonderful, wonderful album.
Track Listing:
- Main Title (1:22)
- Bootleg Left (2:31)
- Ryan and the Tunnel of Temptation (3:34)
- The Vortex and the Dare (4:17)
- The Wonder of Tao (2:08)
- The Force of Yun (2:19)
- Mudlap Rap/Elysia's Enytrance (1:01)
- The Lifespring Rhapsody (3:58)
- Forces of Nature (4:33)
- Challenge of Yun/The Force of Water (3:15)
- Rooz Reunited (2:02)
- Theme of Tao/The Komodo Dragontrot (3:48)
- Encounter of the Roo Kind (1:39)
- Komodo's Seduction (1:44)
- The Mudlap Trap (2:32)
- Chained Melody (5:03)
- Tunnel of Blades (2:24)
- Lesson of Inner Strength (2:04)
- Death of Chung (2:53)
- Komodo's Fury and Elysia's Redemption (1:52)
- Farewell to Chung/Mudlap's Remorse (2:31)
- Marsupial Arabesque (5:01)
- Planet of the Roo-Warriors (5:24)
- Ryan's Strengths (3:02)
Running Time:
Prometheus Records PCD-144 (1996)
Music composed and conducted by Don Davis. Performed by The Denver Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Orchestrations by Don Davis. Album produced by Don Davis and Ford A. Thaxton.
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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.